Paradise Lost

John Milton

John Milton

• Puritan• Believed an individual’s relationship with God

was at the heart of religion• Believed each person should develop his own

relationship with God through personal study of the Bible

• Critical of Catholic rituals and ceremony

Paradise Lost

• Greatest epic poem written during the Renaissance

• Follows the epic tradition set out by Homer and Virgil (the Classics)

Characteristics of an Epic

• 1. Begins in medias res (in the middle of the action)

- then tells earlier parts of the story in flashback

2. Invokes the muse

• The heavenly muse of Moses (line 6)

Moses and the Ten Commandments

Milton invokes the muse of Moses who encouraged him to

receive the ten commandments: THE

HOLY SPIRIT

3. Epic Battle

• Satan’s revolt against God in Heaven

4. Catalog of Warriors

• Elaborate list of the princes among the fallen angelsMilton catalogs the prominent devils in Hell and explains the various names they are known by and which cults worshipped them

5. Formal Tone

Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruitOf that forbidden tree, whose mortal tasteBrought death into the world, and all our woe,With loss of Eden, till one greater ManRestore us, and regain the blissful seat,Sing, Heavenly Muse,…

6. Use of figurative language

• Fanciful comparisons• Metaphors• Personification• Epic similes: lengthly and developed

comparisons

Epic Similes and Satan

• tell us how big and powerful Satan isIe. When Satan is lying on the burning lake,

Milton compares him to the titans who waged war upon Jove in Greek

mythologyie. Then he compares him to a Leviathan, or whale, that is so huge that sailors mistake it for an island and fix their anchor to it.

We really don’t know how big Satan is – no one knows how big the titans were or the leviathan

8. Epic Hero

• Appears at first to be Satan – he has some truly admirable qualities, but also some very evil ones (Milton wanted to demonstrate how appealing Satan was to Adam and Eve)

• Milton introduces us to the antagonist first – we sees Satan’s struggle – this helps us to appreciate what Adam and Eve are up against

Theme

• Explicitly stated• “to explain the ways of God to man” (line 26)

Milton wants to show his fellow man that the fall of humankind into sin and death was part of God’s greater plan, that God’s plan is justified

Uncharacteristic of an Epic

• Written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)

• Has an absent epic hero (Christ)